We had an interesting story in the news today. Greg and I lodged an ethics complaint against a reviled city councilman several years ago for voting to give the developer our tax money when the developer was also his business partner. Since our ethics board is so weak and has never even slapped anyone on the wrist for major conflicts of interest, nothing happened.
Well, today it came out in the news that the councilman and his wife each claim a homestead exemption, although a married couple is only allowed one exemption. This guy is a lawyer so he knows how to read the fine print, and these two residences were bought at separate times a few years apart. So he made a concious choice to defraud the taxpayers. Besides being illegal, it goes against the oath you take as a councilman.
He has been in office for over 20 years (he became a councilman when he was 21!) and is known as the "stealth mayor" because he bullies other councilmembers until he gets his way. He owns most of the buildings on our downtown square including the old movie theatre he let rot instead of letting anyone else buy it and restore it. Every decision and vote he makes is based on what will benefit him.
I hope he is recalled because of this!